Defective taxis taken off Rossendale's roads

NEARLY half of all taxis were hauled off the roads during random spot-checks by licensing bosses in Rossendale.

Fourteen hackney carriage vehicles were stopped during an inspection by officials in the valley last Friday night.

And four were immediately taken off the road after being examined by an inspector from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).

Major problems such as defective tyres and faulty steering systems were just two of the reasons behind the suspensions.

Another driver was spoken to on suspicion of driving a hackney carriage while unlicensed.Council licensing officers, VOSA and Lancashire Police were behind the crackdown.

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Coun Christine Gill, the borough’s licensing committee chairman, said: “Taxi drivers are professional drivers and as such they should be carrying out basic checks before, during and at the end of each shift to ensure passenger safety.”

Insp John Fryer, of Rossendale Police, said: “Public safety could be compromised by a lack of routine vehicle maintenance and we will continue to work in partnership with the council to ensure defective vehicles are removed from the roads.”

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Comments (15)

Next place should be Blackburn town centre then burnley then clitheroe the taxis in these towns are shocking

Next place should be Blackburn town centre then burnley then clitheroe the taxis in these towns are shockinglancs1985

Next place should be Blackburn town centre then burnley then clitheroe the taxis in these towns are shocking

Score: 0

jack daniels says...9:25pm Tue 18 Dec 12

In other news - road accidents where reduced by 80% in one night. Rossendale police baffled as to reason why....

In other news - road accidents where reduced by 80% in one night. Rossendale police baffled as to reason why....jack daniels

In other news - road accidents where reduced by 80% in one night. Rossendale police baffled as to reason why....

Score: 0

oracle999 says...9:34pm Tue 18 Dec 12

There is a surprise. Once again, most expensive taxis in Lancashire fail fail fail.

There is a surprise. Once again, most expensive taxis in Lancashire fail fail fail.oracle999

There is a surprise. Once again, most expensive taxis in Lancashire fail fail fail.

Score: 0

pdb951 says...8:43am Wed 19 Dec 12

No wonder they did not want new enforcement imposed. Didnt the council vote against imposing these measures?

No wonder they did not want new enforcement imposed. Didnt the council vote against imposing these measures?pdb951

No wonder they did not want new enforcement imposed. Didnt the council vote against imposing these measures?

Score: 0

mysay.com says...9:11am Wed 19 Dec 12

nearly half??? there are over 200 licensed vehicles in rossendale, only 14 stopped and only 3 of them had defects.....in whos world is that half??? got to love journalistic creativity. as for the ones with faults...SHAME ON YOU...one with no licens........who had been concentrating on sorting his clutch out ready for christmas and was in all honesty an innocent mistake, it had only just expired and he is appealing now....but one with no tax........WTF get it together lads.....you are lettign down the team....we have a good reputation as has been declared publicly bu the council....STOP BRINGING US DOWN egt your acts together.....NO EXCUSES. as for the "most expensive" comment....our prices have not gone up since 2007, while fuel, insurance and all other costs have continually gone up.....and we are actually one of the cheapest as our prices include the first mile where most other areas do not, so there first mile is actually more than ours.....but this is not about price, this is about standards.. GUYS......we keep telling you, theses results are unacceptable, even one faulire is one too many!!!!

nearly half??? there are over 200 licensed vehicles in rossendale, only 14 stopped and only 3 of them had defects.....in whos world is that half???
got to love journalistic creativity.
as for the ones with faults...SHAME ON YOU...one with no licens........who had been concentrating on sorting his clutch out ready for christmas and was in all honesty an innocent mistake, it had only just expired and he is appealing now....but one with no tax........WTF get it together lads.....you are lettign down the team....we have a good reputation as has been declared publicly bu the council....STOP BRINGING US DOWN egt your acts together.....NO EXCUSES.
as for the "most expensive" comment....our prices have not gone up since 2007, while fuel, insurance and all other costs have continually gone up.....and we are actually one of the cheapest as our prices include the first mile where most other areas do not, so there first mile is actually more than ours.....but this is not about price, this is about standards..
GUYS......we keep telling you, theses results are unacceptable, even one faulire is one too many!!!!mysay.com

nearly half??? there are over 200 licensed vehicles in rossendale, only 14 stopped and only 3 of them had defects.....in whos world is that half??? got to love journalistic creativity. as for the ones with faults...SHAME ON YOU...one with no licens........who had been concentrating on sorting his clutch out ready for christmas and was in all honesty an innocent mistake, it had only just expired and he is appealing now....but one with no tax........WTF get it together lads.....you are lettign down the team....we have a good reputation as has been declared publicly bu the council....STOP BRINGING US DOWN egt your acts together.....NO EXCUSES. as for the "most expensive" comment....our prices have not gone up since 2007, while fuel, insurance and all other costs have continually gone up.....and we are actually one of the cheapest as our prices include the first mile where most other areas do not, so there first mile is actually more than ours.....but this is not about price, this is about standards.. GUYS......we keep telling you, theses results are unacceptable, even one faulire is one too many!!!!

Score: 0

Izanears says...9:33am Wed 19 Dec 12

Rossendale-Pendle-Bu rnley-Blackburn with Darwen-Hyndburn. It is the same story over and over again. What is with taxi owners that they can't/won't keep their vehicles in good condition. Councils should bring in two strikes condition. If any of a Taxi firms vehicles fail the test twice, the licence should be revoked.

Rossendale-Pendle-Bu
rnley-Blackburn with Darwen-Hyndburn.
It is the same story over and over again. What is with taxi owners that they can't/won't keep their vehicles in good condition. Councils should bring in two strikes condition. If any of a Taxi firms vehicles fail the test twice, the licence should be revoked.Izanears

Rossendale-Pendle-Bu rnley-Blackburn with Darwen-Hyndburn. It is the same story over and over again. What is with taxi owners that they can't/won't keep their vehicles in good condition. Councils should bring in two strikes condition. If any of a Taxi firms vehicles fail the test twice, the licence should be revoked.

Score: 0

GAC says...10:05am Wed 19 Dec 12

mysay.com, im guessing that would be half of the taxi's tested with the spot checks, not half of all taxi's. as for someone not having a license because he was sorting his clutch out and it was just an innocent mistake ?! he forgot he was a taxi driver or he forgot you needed to have a license to be one. seriously the police and council should go through all taxi's be it mini cab or hackney once a year as these things seem to keep happening every 6 months now where a dozen cars get taken off the road. if a supposed professional driver cant be bothered to look after their car maybe they shouldn't be doing it in the first place. sure some of these guys will be sharing cars even so if its your livelihood you don't let it fall apart and risk your own life or your passengers. as for acting together and the council bringing them down, the only time they acted together was when they spat the dummy out about regular checks and a points system for failing said checks. again if they don't want to look after their cars and drive like a professional maybe they shouldn't be in the job to start with. i worked a few years ago at a very large taxi firm and the guys there knew if they got done for anything like the above they would be fired no questions. it solves a lot of the little issues and makes sure the bigger ones don't happen at all. on the guy driving with no license, be it a driving or hackney surly the taxi firm should have this on record as well or don't they know who is actually driving for them now. if so they need a serious going over with a fine toothed comb as i bet there's more.

mysay.com, im guessing that would be half of the taxi's tested with the spot checks, not half of all taxi's.
as for someone not having a license because he was sorting his clutch out and it was just an innocent mistake ?! he forgot he was a taxi driver or he forgot you needed to have a license to be one.
seriously the police and council should go through all taxi's be it mini cab or hackney once a year as these things seem to keep happening every 6 months now where a dozen cars get taken off the road.
if a supposed professional driver cant be bothered to look after their car maybe they shouldn't be doing it in the first place.
sure some of these guys will be sharing cars even so if its your livelihood you don't let it fall apart and risk your own life or your passengers.
as for acting together and the council bringing them down, the only time they acted together was when they spat the dummy out about regular checks and a points system for failing said checks. again if they don't want to look after their cars and drive like a professional maybe they shouldn't be in the job to start with.
i worked a few years ago at a very large taxi firm and the guys there knew if they got done for anything like the above they would be fired no questions. it solves a lot of the little issues and makes sure the bigger ones don't happen at all.
on the guy driving with no license, be it a driving or hackney surly the taxi firm should have this on record as well or don't they know who is actually driving for them now. if so they need a serious going over with a fine toothed comb as i bet there's more.GAC

mysay.com, im guessing that would be half of the taxi's tested with the spot checks, not half of all taxi's. as for someone not having a license because he was sorting his clutch out and it was just an innocent mistake ?! he forgot he was a taxi driver or he forgot you needed to have a license to be one. seriously the police and council should go through all taxi's be it mini cab or hackney once a year as these things seem to keep happening every 6 months now where a dozen cars get taken off the road. if a supposed professional driver cant be bothered to look after their car maybe they shouldn't be doing it in the first place. sure some of these guys will be sharing cars even so if its your livelihood you don't let it fall apart and risk your own life or your passengers. as for acting together and the council bringing them down, the only time they acted together was when they spat the dummy out about regular checks and a points system for failing said checks. again if they don't want to look after their cars and drive like a professional maybe they shouldn't be in the job to start with. i worked a few years ago at a very large taxi firm and the guys there knew if they got done for anything like the above they would be fired no questions. it solves a lot of the little issues and makes sure the bigger ones don't happen at all. on the guy driving with no license, be it a driving or hackney surly the taxi firm should have this on record as well or don't they know who is actually driving for them now. if so they need a serious going over with a fine toothed comb as i bet there's more.

Score: 0

DougSpencer says...10:09am Wed 19 Dec 12

In fairness to the Taxi trade, and speaking as a mechanic, it can be quite difficult to fully maintain a vehicle that covers high milage and is subjected to stop start driving. Some faults only come to light when a vehicle is fully examined on a ramp or pit. Lights, tyres etc should be checked at the start and end of every shift though. I see plenty of taxis around Rossendale with lights out for 2 or 3 days. The bit that makes me laugh, is the description of taxi drivers as "professional drivers". If the Government was to introduce a national advanced driving test for taxi drivers, then they could be described as professional, otherwise, they are car drivers that have had a clear CRB check.

In fairness to the Taxi trade, and speaking as a mechanic, it can be quite difficult to fully maintain a vehicle that covers high milage and is subjected to stop start driving. Some faults only come to light when a vehicle is fully examined on a ramp or pit. Lights, tyres etc should be checked at the start and end of every shift though. I see plenty of taxis around Rossendale with lights out for 2 or 3 days.
The bit that makes me laugh, is the description of taxi drivers as "professional drivers". If the Government was to introduce a national advanced driving test for taxi drivers, then they could be described as professional, otherwise, they are car drivers that have had a clear CRB check.DougSpencer

In fairness to the Taxi trade, and speaking as a mechanic, it can be quite difficult to fully maintain a vehicle that covers high milage and is subjected to stop start driving. Some faults only come to light when a vehicle is fully examined on a ramp or pit. Lights, tyres etc should be checked at the start and end of every shift though. I see plenty of taxis around Rossendale with lights out for 2 or 3 days. The bit that makes me laugh, is the description of taxi drivers as "professional drivers". If the Government was to introduce a national advanced driving test for taxi drivers, then they could be described as professional, otherwise, they are car drivers that have had a clear CRB check.

Score: 0

mysay.com says...12:52pm Wed 19 Dec 12

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen" as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use) and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks. Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen"
as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use)
and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks.
Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.mysay.com

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen" as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use) and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks. Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.

Score: 0

cloudysky says...1:32pm Wed 19 Dec 12

RBC Press Release: Operation Spartacus, a taxi enforcement exercise, was deployed by the Council’s Licensing and Enforcement Unit, Lancashire Police and VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) during the evening of Friday 14th December 2012. During the evening, 14 licensed hackney carriages were stopped and inspected at the roadside with 9 of those being selected for an inspection by a VOSA inspector of which all 4 vehicles were issued with an immediate prohibition notice and their licences were suspended immediately by the Council’s enforcement officers for faults such as defective tyres and defective steering components. In addition to the VOSA checks, council officers suspended a further hackney carriage which was found to have a tax disc which had expired in September. Furthermore, 4 more hackney carriages were issued with Council defect notices for faulty headlamps, missing ‘no smoking stickers’, defective number plate lights and excessive play in the handbrake. During the exercise an unlicensed driver was found to be operating a hackney carriage and will be reported for prosecution. Councillor Christine Gill, Chair of the Licensing Committee said “There is no excuse for defective tyres and lights, taxi drivers are professional drivers and as such they should be carrying out basic checks before, during and at the end of each shift to ensure passenger safety. The Council will continue to conduct these inspections regularly. Licensed taxis are regularly tested and further taxi inspections are scheduled to take place.”

RBC Press Release:
Operation Spartacus, a taxi enforcement exercise, was deployed by the Council’s Licensing and Enforcement Unit, Lancashire Police and VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) during the evening of Friday 14th December 2012.
During the evening, 14 licensed hackney carriages were stopped and inspected at the roadside with 9 of those being selected for an inspection by a VOSA inspector of which all 4 vehicles were issued with an immediate prohibition notice and their licences were suspended immediately by the Council’s enforcement officers for faults such as defective tyres and defective steering components.
In addition to the VOSA checks, council officers suspended a further hackney carriage which was found to have a tax disc which had expired in September. Furthermore, 4 more hackney carriages were issued with Council defect notices for faulty headlamps, missing ‘no smoking stickers’, defective number plate lights and excessive play in the handbrake.
During the exercise an unlicensed driver was found to be operating a hackney carriage and will be reported for prosecution.
Councillor Christine Gill, Chair of the Licensing Committee said “There is no excuse for defective tyres and lights, taxi drivers are professional drivers and as such they should be carrying out basic checks before, during and at the end of each shift to ensure passenger safety. The Council will continue to conduct these inspections regularly. Licensed taxis are regularly tested and further taxi inspections are scheduled to take place.”cloudysky

RBC Press Release: Operation Spartacus, a taxi enforcement exercise, was deployed by the Council’s Licensing and Enforcement Unit, Lancashire Police and VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) during the evening of Friday 14th December 2012. During the evening, 14 licensed hackney carriages were stopped and inspected at the roadside with 9 of those being selected for an inspection by a VOSA inspector of which all 4 vehicles were issued with an immediate prohibition notice and their licences were suspended immediately by the Council’s enforcement officers for faults such as defective tyres and defective steering components. In addition to the VOSA checks, council officers suspended a further hackney carriage which was found to have a tax disc which had expired in September. Furthermore, 4 more hackney carriages were issued with Council defect notices for faulty headlamps, missing ‘no smoking stickers’, defective number plate lights and excessive play in the handbrake. During the exercise an unlicensed driver was found to be operating a hackney carriage and will be reported for prosecution. Councillor Christine Gill, Chair of the Licensing Committee said “There is no excuse for defective tyres and lights, taxi drivers are professional drivers and as such they should be carrying out basic checks before, during and at the end of each shift to ensure passenger safety. The Council will continue to conduct these inspections regularly. Licensed taxis are regularly tested and further taxi inspections are scheduled to take place.”

Score: 0

mysay.com says...1:49pm Wed 19 Dec 12

quite right.to.....lets have more checks...its about time the council earnt the massive amount of money that the licesing trade pay them. Tyres headlamps........as i said before...no excuse, although bulbs can blow duing any shift but should still be replaced at the earliest possible time.....steering... ..as i said....a rubber sleeve which has no effect on steering and would show up at the next MOT inspection before it caused any problem to steerign......no smoking stickers......SHAME ON THE GARAGE as all cars are inspected every 6 months and should have failed without these stickers in place......but the drivers should notice anyway bring on the inspections.....lets get rid of the ones who are constantly letting the trade down....it is always the same ones who fail but to be honest./.....4 out of over 200 is not that bad a result....unacceptab le yes...but no where near half as reported!!

quite right.to.....lets have more checks...its about time the council earnt the massive amount of money that the licesing trade pay them.
Tyres headlamps........as i said before...no excuse, although bulbs can blow duing any shift but should still be replaced at the earliest possible time.....steering...
..as i said....a rubber sleeve which has no effect on steering and would show up at the next MOT inspection before it caused any problem to steerign......no smoking stickers......SHAME ON THE GARAGE as all cars are inspected every 6 months and should have failed without these stickers in place......but the drivers should notice anyway
bring on the inspections.....lets get rid of the ones who are constantly letting the trade down....it is always the same ones who fail
but to be honest./.....4 out of over 200 is not that bad a result....unacceptab
le yes...but no where near half as reported!!mysay.com

quite right.to.....lets have more checks...its about time the council earnt the massive amount of money that the licesing trade pay them. Tyres headlamps........as i said before...no excuse, although bulbs can blow duing any shift but should still be replaced at the earliest possible time.....steering... ..as i said....a rubber sleeve which has no effect on steering and would show up at the next MOT inspection before it caused any problem to steerign......no smoking stickers......SHAME ON THE GARAGE as all cars are inspected every 6 months and should have failed without these stickers in place......but the drivers should notice anyway bring on the inspections.....lets get rid of the ones who are constantly letting the trade down....it is always the same ones who fail but to be honest./.....4 out of over 200 is not that bad a result....unacceptab le yes...but no where near half as reported!!

Score: 0

GAC says...4:39pm Wed 19 Dec 12

mysay.com wrote…

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen" as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use) and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks. Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.

got to say having the attitude of whoops i forgot to renew my license is rather poor especially when its your lively hood. on the points system i thought it also covered vehicle condition as well driving standards. so it would have forced drivers to take more notice of things like none working lights. sure 4 out of 200 isn't too bad but it wasn't out of 200 it was out of 14, that's just short of 30% of cars checked. now spread that out over 200, that works out at roughly 60 cars, not saying that many are seriously faulty but even if its half of that its way to high.

[quote][p][bold]mysay.com[/bold] wrote:
atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen"
as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use)
and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks.
Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.[/p][/quote]got to say having the attitude of whoops i forgot to renew my license is rather poor especially when its your lively hood.
on the points system i thought it also covered vehicle condition as well driving standards. so it would have forced drivers to take more notice of things like none working lights.
sure 4 out of 200 isn't too bad but it wasn't out of 200 it was out of 14, that's just short of 30% of cars checked. now spread that out over 200, that works out at roughly 60 cars, not saying that many are seriously faulty but even if its half of that its way to high.GAC

mysay.com wrote…

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen" as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use) and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks. Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.

got to say having the attitude of whoops i forgot to renew my license is rather poor especially when its your lively hood. on the points system i thought it also covered vehicle condition as well driving standards. so it would have forced drivers to take more notice of things like none working lights. sure 4 out of 200 isn't too bad but it wasn't out of 200 it was out of 14, that's just short of 30% of cars checked. now spread that out over 200, that works out at roughly 60 cars, not saying that many are seriously faulty but even if its half of that its way to high.

Score: 0

mysay.com says...6:20pm Wed 19 Dec 12

GAC wrote…

mysay.com wrote…

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen" as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use) and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks. Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.

got to say having the attitude of whoops i forgot to renew my license is rather poor especially when its your lively hood. on the points system i thought it also covered vehicle condition as well driving standards. so it would have forced drivers to take more notice of things like none working lights. sure 4 out of 200 isn't too bad but it wasn't out of 200 it was out of 14, that's just short of 30% of cars checked. now spread that out over 200, that works out at roughly 60 cars, not saying that many are seriously faulty but even if its half of that its way to high.

I agree that th results are way to high....but yes it was only of 14 tested, which means that not only were half not even checked in this excercise, but of the ones checked, there still wasnt half of them failed and it is closer to 25%than 30% but that is just splitting hairs. the dribers was busy and simply forgot his renewal date is all, and besides, I have just tried to book an appointment to renew mine, they are refusing to make any appointments as they are "too busy" to provide the service which they are paid over 100k per year, it was an oversight as opposed to intentional. this is only because they are concentrating on issueing licenses to people from all other areas to be able to provide a quality service , enforcement or otherwise, to the people of Rossendale and the panalty points had nothing to do with vehilce conditions, only standards of driving which as I said before many of which were totally legal and unfair items to be punished for.so it would only have forced drivers to do things like not use the radio to take instructions from there offices, therefore removing the taxi service in most cases. But I admire you for asking the questions as opposed to what most other people do which is make statement of fact with no knowledge of what those facts actually are. I tip my preverbial hat to you sir.

[quote][p][bold]GAC[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]mysay.com[/bold] wrote:
atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen"
as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use)
and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks.
Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.[/p][/quote]got to say having the attitude of whoops i forgot to renew my license is rather poor especially when its your lively hood.
on the points system i thought it also covered vehicle condition as well driving standards. so it would have forced drivers to take more notice of things like none working lights.
sure 4 out of 200 isn't too bad but it wasn't out of 200 it was out of 14, that's just short of 30% of cars checked. now spread that out over 200, that works out at roughly 60 cars, not saying that many are seriously faulty but even if its half of that its way to high.[/p][/quote]I agree that th results are way to high....but yes it was only of 14 tested, which means that not only were half not even checked in this excercise, but of the ones checked, there still wasnt half of them failed and it is closer to 25%than 30% but that is just splitting hairs.
the dribers was busy and simply forgot his renewal date is all, and besides, I have just tried to book an appointment to renew mine, they are refusing to make any appointments as they are "too busy" to provide the service which they are paid over 100k per year, it was an oversight as opposed to intentional. this is only because they are concentrating on issueing licenses to people from all other areas to be able to provide a quality service , enforcement or otherwise, to the people of Rossendale
and the panalty points had nothing to do with vehilce conditions, only standards of driving which as I said before many of which were totally legal and unfair items to be punished for.so it would only have forced drivers to do things like not use the radio to take instructions from there offices, therefore removing the taxi service in most cases.
But I admire you for asking the questions as opposed to what most other people do which is make statement of fact with no knowledge of what those facts actually are. I tip my preverbial hat to you sir.mysay.com

GAC wrote…

mysay.com wrote…

atually GAC you would be guessing wrong.....the story clearly states that 14 were checked and only 4 found with faults, one of them being a drivers who was, for your information self employed, not through a company, and hadnt realised that his license had expired just days before hand.and since when is 3 faulty cars "a dozen" as for your reference to the abolished "penalty points scheme", again just to put you right so you have correct information before you start having an uninformed opinion, this scheme had nothing whatsoever to do with vehicle standard checks, it was about unenforceable things like not wearing setabelts (which we are exempt from) and using taxi radios to obtain jobs and inform offices of jobs completed (which we are licensed to use) and the police and council DO go through all vehicles as standard licensing pratcice at least twice yearly with a full mot AND licensing conditions check, aswell as random spot checks more on top of those checks. Dougy, you are quite right, the one with steering faults....was a split boot on a balll joint cover, which as you said would not be noticed as routine inspection untill its next 6 monthly MOT and Rossendale test, but to correct you Dougy, ALL taxi drivers do indeed sit the advanced drivers DSA test before they become licensed.

got to say having the attitude of whoops i forgot to renew my license is rather poor especially when its your lively hood. on the points system i thought it also covered vehicle condition as well driving standards. so it would have forced drivers to take more notice of things like none working lights. sure 4 out of 200 isn't too bad but it wasn't out of 200 it was out of 14, that's just short of 30% of cars checked. now spread that out over 200, that works out at roughly 60 cars, not saying that many are seriously faulty but even if its half of that its way to high.

I agree that th results are way to high....but yes it was only of 14 tested, which means that not only were half not even checked in this excercise, but of the ones checked, there still wasnt half of them failed and it is closer to 25%than 30% but that is just splitting hairs. the dribers was busy and simply forgot his renewal date is all, and besides, I have just tried to book an appointment to renew mine, they are refusing to make any appointments as they are "too busy" to provide the service which they are paid over 100k per year, it was an oversight as opposed to intentional. this is only because they are concentrating on issueing licenses to people from all other areas to be able to provide a quality service , enforcement or otherwise, to the people of Rossendale and the panalty points had nothing to do with vehilce conditions, only standards of driving which as I said before many of which were totally legal and unfair items to be punished for.so it would only have forced drivers to do things like not use the radio to take instructions from there offices, therefore removing the taxi service in most cases. But I admire you for asking the questions as opposed to what most other people do which is make statement of fact with no knowledge of what those facts actually are. I tip my preverbial hat to you sir.

Score: 0

cloudysky says...11:04am Thu 20 Dec 12

i have checked the facts with the licensing department and they confirmed 14 vehicles were stopped and inspected and 8 of them had defects.

i have checked the facts with the licensing department and they confirmed 14 vehicles were stopped and inspected and 8 of them had defects.cloudysky

i have checked the facts with the licensing department and they confirmed 14 vehicles were stopped and inspected and 8 of them had defects.

Score: 0

mysay.com says...12:16pm Thu 20 Dec 12

yes cloudy.....of which only 4 were taken off the road....the other 4 were for number plate lights out and sidelights out......not major defects as the scandalous report would have you believe...only 4 out of the 14 checked,,,,,,adn only 14 out of over 200 stopped...not a bad result over all in the grand scheme of things...you know as well as we do....a bulb can go at any time...even during a journey, and a split rubber cover is NOT a major steering problem as reported....this is nothing more than shock tactics to slate the trade unfairly...they do a vital job and are scrutinised at every turn...the issues arising were not as bad...and it certainly was no where near HALF as reported

yes cloudy.....of which only 4 were taken off the road....the other 4 were for number plate lights out and sidelights out......not major defects as the scandalous report would have you believe...only 4 out of the 14 checked,,,,,,adn only 14 out of over 200 stopped...not a bad result over all in the grand scheme of things...you know as well as we do....a bulb can go at any time...even during a journey, and a split rubber cover is NOT a major steering problem as reported....this is nothing more than shock tactics to slate the trade unfairly...they do a vital job and are scrutinised at every turn...the issues arising were not as bad...and it certainly was no where near HALF as reportedmysay.com

yes cloudy.....of which only 4 were taken off the road....the other 4 were for number plate lights out and sidelights out......not major defects as the scandalous report would have you believe...only 4 out of the 14 checked,,,,,,adn only 14 out of over 200 stopped...not a bad result over all in the grand scheme of things...you know as well as we do....a bulb can go at any time...even during a journey, and a split rubber cover is NOT a major steering problem as reported....this is nothing more than shock tactics to slate the trade unfairly...they do a vital job and are scrutinised at every turn...the issues arising were not as bad...and it certainly was no where near HALF as reported

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